Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper presents the results of two experiments comparing perceptions of local, national and Internet news articles on two U.S. environmental policy issues: oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and ratification of the Kyoto treaty on global warming. Of interest were the potential effects of perceived news article reach and slant on estimates of public opinion regarding the two issues. While perceptions of bias in news articles proved to be a robust predictor of opinion judgments, support for an effect of perceived news article reach was mixed. Deconstructing perceived reach into access and exposure assumptions should produce an opinion inference model that is more sensitive to the differing influences of local, national and Internet news.